A Change of Heart

In today’s reading, Jesus again takes a shot at the Pharisees. He uses them as a bad example. The Pharisee comes before God in the Temple. He proclaims all the ways he has met and exceeded the expectations of the law. He is patting himself on the back for how good he is.

Jesus compares him to a tax collector, a man known to be a sinner by profession. The tax collector bows humbly before God, seeking His mercy and forgiveness.  

On the surface, the story is an example for us of what humility looks like. It is Jesus’ way of showing the Pharisees that all their pride in following the rules and doing what the law requires is not enough and, indeed, not what God wants from us. Instead, he is helping us to see that no matter how we have failed to meet the mark, our Loving God is always there for us and will welcome us home. Perhaps that is enough of a message. Yet as I reflected on the reading, I realized that the Pharisee and the tax collector had more in common than they had that separated them.

The Pharisee and the tax collector were both looking in the wrong direction. They were both looking at themselves. The Pharisee was singing his song about himself and how great he was. The tax collector was singing the same song, just a different verse. He was only concentrating on how he had failed. As a result, both of them missed an opportunity. They missed the chance to stand in the naked truth of who they are and be showered with God’s love.

When we do a personal inventory of how we stand before God, we are asked to be honest. Jesus used extremes to make a point. But we don’t live in that world. We are partly like the tax collector and partly like the Pharisee. The truth of who we are and how we interact with others is what we need to bring before God. Some of that is our success, and some are our failures. None of us are all successful, and none of us are all failings.

Reflecting on this reading, I have spent much time thinking about Sin and sins. I am not sure how it fits with the reading, but it is where my prayer has taken me.  

We often speak of sins, which I see in the Pharisee’s words. While he presented to God all he was doing right, he was actually enumerating his sins. He was talking about how he had failed to be the kind of person God had called him to be. So likewise, the tax collector just collapsed before God realizes he has fallen but is also thinking about sins. The stuff, individual, and particular that he has done wrong.

The Gospel calls us to look differently at our lives and ask God to reveal the Sin that holds us bound. We need to look for the Sin that is the source of all other sins in our lives. The Pharisee’s Sin may have been arrogance, and from that came his sense of superiority and judgment of others. The tax collector’s Sin may have been greed which caused him to be known as one who was dishonest and taking advantage of people.

We do a disservice to the love of God when we make our sins more critical than our Sin. Making our sins a grocery list of the individual things we have done wrong is not enough. Instead, we must take the time for self-reflection. That process will help us see the root Sin that leads us to commit independent acts. 

When we go before God, we present ourselves in the raw truth. When we know the truth, we can come before God in honest humility and ask His help and forgiveness. Knowing the truth of who we are and our root Sin is the catalyst that can bring us to a genuine change of heart. There, we experience metanoia and fall into the arms of our loving God as His beloved.

In God’s Unending Love,

Gwen